Pilote du Bout du Monde: Souvenirs d'un pilote de brousse dans le Grand Nord

SKU: CAHS-bk17f
CA$41.00
CA$41.00
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ISBN: 978-2898042249


by Dominique Prinet


Au cours des années 1960 et 1970, le Grand Nord canadien était en pleine effervescence. Dominique Prinet, alors jeune pilote de brousse, y a effectué des vols incroyables, lui qui a transporté, par tous les temps, des pêcheurs, des chasseurs et des trappeurs, des chercheurs d'or ou de pétrole, ainsi que des blessés et des malades nécessitant une évacuation d'urgence. C'était bien avant le GPS, quand les cartes se révélaient imprécises, les modes de communication, rudimentaires, et que les voyages du genre duraient des semaines.Nuit et jour, été comme hiver, au moyen d'avions à flotteurs ou à skis, ce pilote du bout du monde se posait dans la toundra, sur des lacs ou des rivières, sur l'océan et même sur des pistes à flanc de montagne. Au fil de son témoignage, il raconte ses vols grisants, mais parle aussi des prospecteurs, mineurs, aventuriers et voleurs de lingots qui fréquentaient le bar le plus populaire de Yellowknife. Dominique Prinet trace également le portrait d'une contrée majestueuse, façonnée par le folklore et les légendes, puis par la culture et l'ouverture de ses communautés. Attachez votre ceinture!


Read Brian Cotter's recent review of this book on this site.


Please Note:

The retail price is $26.95 + tax. The CAHS will be offering this book for $21 (tax included) + $20 shipping to a Canadian address.

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Beyond recounting so many near-mishaps, this book is also about colourful people: the trappers, prospectors, miners, adventurers and gold-ingot thieves who constituted the fauna at the main bar in Yellowknife in those days. For Arctic dreamers, there was always the flight to the Nahanni River, with its Deadman’s Valley, hot springs, tales of lost or dead prospectors, the many airplanes crashed in pursuit of gold, and much more Nahanni lore.

This entertaining book recollects Prinet’s adventures as a young man while capturing the humour, beauty, danger and unique culture of northern communities, in the dramatic landscape of the Canadian Arctic. Readers familiar with the region and those who can only dream of visiting it will both find this title a nostalgic and captivating read.

Author Dominique Prinet, in the 1960s worked as a commercial bush pilot in the Canadian Arctic and High Arctic, on floats in the summer and skis in the winter, navigating with an astrocompass.  He holds an airline transport pilot licence and has more than 5,000 hours of flying. Following classical studies in Paris, it was Prinet’s intensive flying in the Arctic that allowed him to pay for further studies in electrical engineering, helping him to obtain his masters from McGill University. The stories in this book describe some of the adventures he experienced in northern Canada.
Dominique Prinet would go on to work for Nordair and Canadian Airlines in VP positions. Prinet has also filled his life with many adventures, from climbing 12,000-foot peaks to crossing the Atlantic in a sailboat. To read more about Dominique Prinet’s life, please click here.

Click here to see a recent CAHS Ottawa Chapter monthly meeting where Dominique spoke about flying experiences described in the book, Flying to Extremes: Memories of a Northern Bush Pilot. You can also click here for a French interview with the author.